Gulf Keystone Shares Up 12% On Huge Discovery

Gulf Keystone, the London Aim-listed, independent oil and gas exploration and production company with operations exclusively in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, found its second massive oil discovery just days ago. The share price rose by more than a quarter on the news, and have now fallen back to +12%, putting them just over 120p.

Gulf Keystone said its Sheikh Adi discovery near Erbil contains perhaps 1.9bn barrels of oil. This is one of the biggest discoveries to date, although not as big as the company’s other massive find.

Gulf Keystone made another discovery earlier at Shaikan, a neighboring block, which could contain five to eleven billion barrels of oil.

John Gerstenlauer, Gulf Keystone’s chief operating officer, said: “The Sheikh Adi oil in place numbers are all the more significant due to our 80% interest in the block”. The Kurdistan Regional Government holds the other 20%.

“This report reinforces our belief in having encountered yet another potential world-class oil source,” he said in a statement.

Legal battles, and worries about exploration risk and the global economy have pushed down the company’s share price this year from its peak of 184.25.